Composite block for soft treads.



No. 637,744. Patented Nov. 2|, 1899.

' C. OLSON.

(Application filed Aug. 18, 1899.)

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES OLSON, OF-DES MO INES, IOWA.

COMPOSITE BLOCK FOR SOFT TREADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 637,741, dated November 21, 1899. Application filed August 18, 1899. Serial No. 727,661. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES OLsON, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Des Moines, Polk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Composite Blocks for Soft Treads, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved block to be employed in the formation of soft treads for horseshoes.

My invention consists in the construction of an article of manufacture, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which-' Figure 1 is a bottom plan illustrating a horseshoe to which my composite block is applied. Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of a horseshoe to which my composite block is applied. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the block. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the block, partly broken away to illustrate the construction thereof;

In the construction of the article, as shown, I employ sheets or strips of wire-cloth 10, .cut on the bias, or, in other words, with the wire threads thereof crossing each other approximately at right angles and trending at oblique angles to the edges of the block. The ends of the obliquely-positioned wires or wire threads of the cloth are not connected, but extend as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 and form edges for the block.

I place a number of the sheets or strips 10 of wire-cloth parallel with each other and fill the interstices between the sheets and between the wires or strands or threads of the sheets with molten rubber or a similar 00-.

lengths as may be desirable to fit the different sizesof shoes, such as 11, which is made with eccentric flanges 12 13 projecting downwardly from the margins of the shoe-plate,

[forms of soft-tread horseshoes and fit the blocks within the groove or trough of the shoes, the wider central portion of each block being located in the central or toe portion of the shoe. The ends of the wires, threads, or strands and the adjacent partof the cohesive substance formingthe upper edge of the block engage and support the shoe-plate, and the lower ends of the wires, threads, or strands and adjacent part of the cohesive substance form a face for impact with the tread-surfaces on which the shoe travels.

The invention herein described relates to the invention described in my application for Letters Patent of the United States filed February 16, 1899, and serially numbered 705,739, and in my present invention the cloth or fabric of textile substance is omitted and the wire sheets held together by the cohesive sub stance alone. Furthermore, in my present invention the threads, wires, or strands of the wire cloth are positioned obliquely to the shoe-plate and tread-surface and will yield under impact somewhat as lazy-tongs within and with the cohesive substance. The provision of the strips of wire-cloth having the wires, threads, or strands thereof positioned obliquely to the shoe-plate and tread-surface and held together by the cohesive substance produces a tread-block that is practically noiseless and yet is compressible and resilient to the maximum degree, for the reason that the wires, threads, or strands yield vertically under pressure and impact and yield relative to each other at the points of crossing and react or recover partly through the resilience of the wires, threads, or strands and partly through the resilience of the cohesive substance. The present invention also has this quality, that the metallic portions of the composite block will wear and the cohesive portions will abrade, spread, and cover the ends of the metallic portions, but will not mash or spread to so great an extent as would be the case if the metallic portions were omitted, and at the same time the frayed and abraded portions of the cohesive substance will project beyond the metallic portions of the block and furnish a cushion-tread for impact prior to the engagement of the metallic portions.

I claim as my invention- 1. l he composite block forhorseshoes,'coniprising the strips of Wire-cloth and the cohesive substance filling the interstices thereof and arranged with the faces of the strips of wire-cloth perpendicular to a tread plane.

. 2. The composite block for horseshoes, comprising wire-cloth arranged with adjacent edges forming a tread-surface andthe inter-.

' stices thereof filled with a cohesive substance.

.3. Thecom posite block for horseshoes, cornprising the strips of Wire-cloth cut on the bias,

and cohesive substance filling the interstices thereof, the cut ends of the wire-cloth forming with the cohesive substance a tread-surface.

4:. vThe composite block for horseshoes, comprising thestrips of wire-cloth cut on the bias and the interstices thereof filled with cohesive substance and the whole formed and curved with its central portion of greater Width than its end portions.

5. The composite block for horseshoes, comprising the wire-cloth and cohesive substance filling the interstices thereof and the whole formed into a block with the central portion thereof of greater width than its end portions.

Signed by me at Des Moines, Iowa, this 22d day of July, 1899.

. CHARLES OLSON. \Vitnesses:

S- G. SWEET, W. E. ELLIS. 

